Where is the benefit?

With offshore wind, everything scales up – the size of turbines, the number of turbines, the technical complexity of building out at sea and, inevitably, the cost. But offshore is also very profitable as indicated by the prices paid when sites were auctioned off the coast of England. While community benefit payments are the norm for any onshore wind farm developer, Crown Estate Scotland, who hold the lease for the seabed have been strangely ‘quiet’ on the subject of community benefit from offshore developments. Community Energy Scotland are on the case.